Details

Updated kernel packages that fix several bugs are now available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linuxoperating system.

These updated packages fix the following bugs:

* the message buffer for the relay function is allocated against onlineCPUs, not ones that will be hot-added in the future. If the buffer hasalready been allocated, hot-adding a CPU, which the relay function workson, will cause a panic, as the message buffer will not be available forsuch a CPU. In these updated packages, hot-adding a CPU after the messagebuffer has been allocated no longer causes a panic.

* after migrating a hypervisor guest, the MAC address table was notupdated, causing packet loss. This prevented network connections to theguest. In these updated packages, after a migration, a gratuitous ARPrequest is sent, causing the ARP caches to be refreshed, which minimizesnetwork downtime, and resolves this issue.

* the TAHI IPsec IPv6 Ready Logo test case failed on 64-bit PowerPCsystems, when using ESP with the encryption algorithm set to "3des-cbc",and authentication set to "null".

* by default, Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on 64-bit PowerPC systems isset for a 32-bit user-space. When compiling on such systems, 32-bit paddingwas used, instead of the 64-bit padding required by 64-bit kernels. Thisresulted in structure fields not being aligned, causing multicast socketoptions to fail.

* the XFRM reverse feature for ICMPv6 did not work. In these updatedpackages, this has been resolved, allowing the TAHI IPsec IPv6 Ready Logotest case to pass successfully.

As well, from this release onwards, the changelog displays both Red HatBugzilla numbers -- Z-Stream first, Y-Stream second -- for each changelogentry.

Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 are advised to upgrade to these updatedpackages, which resolve these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.